Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984

Repeal the Uniform Drinking Age Act - Commentary Magazine

For almost 40 years, most states voluntarily set their minimum drinking age law at 21. In the late 60s and early 70s, 29 states lowered their drinking age to more closely align with the newly reduced military enlistment and voting age.

The results were immediate -- drunk driving crashes and alcohol-related fatalities increased significantly in those states.1 And not just in those states -- "blood borders", where young people would drive to a state with a lower drinking age, drink, and crash on their return, cropped up across the country. As a result, 16 states had increased their drinking ages back to age 21 by 1983.Confronted by the failure of the 18 minimum drinking age, the President Commission on Drunk Driving recommended establishing a national 21 minimum drinking age. President Reagan agreed and on July 17, 1984, he signed into law the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within five years. By 1988, all states had set 21 as the minimum drinking age.Since that time, the 21 minimum drinking age law has saved about 900 lives per year as estimated by the National Traffic Highway Administration (NHTSA). In short, there are more than 25,000 people alive today because of the 21 minimum drinking age law in every state.2-3Additionally, underage drinking rates also fell and continue to fall. From 1991 to the present, annual use of alcohol among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders has dropped 56%, 33%, and 18%, respectively.4

Confronted by the failure of the 18 minimum drinking age, the President Commission on Drunk Driving recommended establishing a national 21 minimum drinking age. President Reagan agreed and on July 17, 1984, he signed into law the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within five years. By 1988, all states had set 21 as the minimum drinking age.

We should do it because the Uniform Drinking Age Act violates the principles of federalism. There is no constitutional justification for the federal government to regulate the age at which someone should be legally permitted to consume alcohol. We knew this when we passed Prohibition. It’s why it took a constitutional amendment to enact. The 21st Amendment returned authority over the regulation of alcohol to the states, and that’s where it should have remained. The precedent set by NFIB v. Sebelius, wherein it was ruled unconstitutional for the federal government to withhold funding for states that refused to expand their Medicaid rolls, should be applied to the UDAA. The law demands a fresh challenge.

Uniform Drinking Age Act of 1984 - Overlawyered

We should do it because the Uniform Drinking Age Act violates the principles of federalism. There is no constitutional justification for the federal government to regulate the age at which someone should be legally permitted to consume alcohol. We knew this when we passed Prohibition. It’s why it took a constitutional amendment to enact. The 21st Amendment returned authority over the regulation of alcohol to the states, and that’s where it should have remained. The precedent set by NFIB v. Sebelius, wherein it was ruled unconstitutional for the federal government to withhold funding for states that refused to expand their Medicaid rolls, should be applied to the UDAA. The law demands a fresh challenge.

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CiteSeerX — The Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act

Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 - Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation from approving Federal-aid highway projects in States in which the purchase or public possession of alcoholic beverages by persons less than 21 years of age is lawful. Makes such prohibition effective in the sixth fiscal year after enactment of this Act. Requires the Secretary to reduce such States' apportionment of Federal-aid highway funds by specified percentages beginning in the third fiscal year after enactment.

H.R. 4892 (98 th ): Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984

Without a waiver, the state would be incompliance with The Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act of 1984, which requires states to have laws that prohibit the purchase or possession of any alcoholic beverage by a person who is younger than age 21.

Uniform Drinking Age Act Archives - Sobering Up

Even with this flexibility for the States, Congress retains the power to use financial and tax incentives to promote certain alcohol policies, such as the minimum legal drinking age. The Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act of 1984 sets the minimum legal drinking age to 21 and every State abides by that standard.

Reviews

“ There was a period, however, when such fatalities decreased. But because it happened before an MLDA was established by the Uniform Drinking Age Act, the decrease cannot be attributed to the drinking age of 21. ”

such as the minimum legal drinking age

Gallery APIS - The 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act

Legislative Analysis of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act

1984, he signed into law the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within five years.

In 1984, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, mandating that all states adopt a minimum legal drinking age of 21 or else they would forfeit some of their federal transportation money. Simple statistical research into the effects of the federal law appears to indicate that it helped to reduce motor vehicle fatalities. However, those studies failed to consider important dynamics on the state level that were occurring around the time of the adoption of the federal law. Our analysis does so, and when those trends are controlled for, we find no evidence that the federal law has saved lives.